System and method for controlling vehicle headlights
US8538636B2 · kind B2 · utility
Assignee
Inventor
Key dates
| Filing date | Apr 7, 2008 |
| Grant date | Sep 17, 2013 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Sep 23, 2030 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG10K2210/3219
- WIPO fieldTransport
- WIPO sectorMechanical engineering
Abstract
Control system and method for automatically controlling headlights of a vehicle includes an optical system for imaging external sources of light within a predetermined field of view and an image processing system for processing images from the optical system and providing a control signal for controlling the headlights as a function of the processed images. Processing the images may entail identifying a source of radiation in the images, the control signal being provided to dim the headlights when a source of radiation in the images is identified as a headlight or taillight of another vehicle. To this end, the image processing system may include a trained pattern recognition system for processing the images to identify the source of radiation, e.g., a pattern recognition algorithm generated from data of possible sources of radiation including headlights and taillights of vehicles and patterns of received radiation from the possible sources.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.